Seared squid & chorizo with chickpea purée

I really fancied trying out a squid recipe from Economy Gastronomy over the weekend so it seemed a good time to check out Green Lanes Fisheries, a popular fishmongers between Palmers Green and Wood Green.

As it turned out it wasn't really a well planned visit at all: I already had some salmon at home marinating for dinner (more on that to come) and I knew I was going to be out on Sunday.  There was so much great fish & seafood that it seemed a bit of a wasted visit to only come back with squid.

But anyway, I'd decided to try the seared squid & chorizo and was looking forward to my al fresco lunch before getting stuck in to some gardening - my version below is adapted to be a little less fat and calorie-laden (way less olive oil for instance) but is still pretty tasty.  In the book they list this as a starter but I used all the chickpea puree to make it a pretty substantial lunch.. it certainly gave me enough energy to do lots of heavy digging in the veg patch!


Seared Squid & Chorizo
Serves 2 generously

400g tin chickpeas
2 tsps ground cumin
a large pinch chilli flakes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp Total 0% Greek yoghurt
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp chopped coriander
250g prepared & cleaned squid, cut into rings
120g cooking chorizo cut into diagonal slices about 1.5cm thick
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
juice of ½ lemon
mixed leaves to serve

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a food processor with the cumin, 1 of the cloves of garlic (chopped) and the chilli. Pulse until the chickpeas are coarsely chopped and then add 2 tbsp of the yoghurt, the water and olive oil. Process until it has made a smoothish purée then add a generous pinch of salt and puree a bit longer.

Mix the other 2bsp of yoghurt with the chopped coriander, cover and place in the fridge while you continue.

Heat a medium, heavy bottomed frying pan with a splash of olive oil and fry the chorizo until it colours and chars in places. Set aside but keep the paprika coloured oil. Turn the heat up to high and when it is very hot throw in the squid.

Fry the squid for about 3 minutes - if the pan is hot enough it won't need any longer and any longer will almost certainly see it get rubbery. It will get a little firmer and more opaque and a little seared in places.

Add the chorizo back to the pan along with the tomatoes, the other chopped garlic clove & the lemon juice. Toss everything together and remove from the heat.

Put a large dollop of chickpea purée on each plate and spoon round the contents of the pan (including the highly flavoured oil). Put a large handful of mixed leaves on the plate along with a few blobs of coriander yoghurt and serve. Preferable outside, in the sun, with a spicy virgin mary.

Polly kindly on the lookout for any marauding
squid thieves

While Jack takes an altogether more laid-back approach